Animals
by Aislinn the Imaginary
Summary: Some people are glad to be born human, while others wish they weren't. I did this to get through writers block, so I hope it's not too bad...
1. Chapter 1

'_When the animals talk it will look like this. Remember, Kat can't understand them!'_

'Count D's' The sign read. My friend Jowen had told me about this pet shop. She said she almost

bought a pet there, but her mom wouldn't let her. I had snuck there; I was supposed to be at the library.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside, looking around curiously. There were cages hanging from

the ceiling, and animals everywhere, most of them _outside_ the cages.

"Aww!" I reached down to pet a raccoon-thing standing next to me.

"Welcome to Count D's pet shop," A very feminine-looking man in some sort of an Asian dress-thing

greeted me. "Our store has everything from the ordinary dog or cat, to animals which barely clear the Washington treaty." I didn't know what that was, but I assumed it meant they were rare.

"This place is amazing!" I grinned. "Could I look around?"

"Of course," He smiled. It was a little creepy, but seemed mostly nice. "Feel free to explore the shop. If you see something you'd like, please tell me." Then the man- Count D, I assumed- sat down at a table and started drinking tea.

I walked down the hallway, peeking into rooms and watching the animals around me. The little raccoon followed me. Soon I was hopelessly lost. I had no idea the store was this big! It seemed a lot smaller on the outside…

"I hope you know the way back…" I said, sitting down next to the raccoon. She (I think it was a girl..) tugged on my pant leg, pointing in another direction. "You do?" I sighed in relief. I stood up and followed her down the hallways and through doors.

I heard something following us and stopped, looking behind me. There was a weird goat-like thing standing there. It had shaggy reddish fur and curvy goat horns on each side of its head. Its face looked sort of catlike, and so did its legs. I walked over and held out me hand to it. The goat thing just stared at me like 'What? You expect me to sniff it or something?'

"Well fine! I was gonna see if you liked me or not, but now I'll pet you anyway!" I started to touch one of the horns when the thing growled and snapped at my hand with sharp teeth!

'_Pon-chan, I hope you aren't too attached to this girl, 'cuz she's gonna be my lunch.'_

"AAAH!" I backed up. The raccoon chattered at the goat angrily.

'_No! She's a customer! And she's nice! Leave her alone.'_

'_Fine…I never get to eat the customers..'_ It rolled its eyes and walked away into one of the other rooms. "Heh… Um, thanks, little raccoon thing. I owe you one. You want to go back to the Count now?" She nodded and I followed her into the room where I came in. The count was sitting on a couch with a bunch of different animals surrounding him.

"Have you made a decision?" He asked. I nodded.

"Well, I think it would probably be too much for me to afford…" I sighed, looking at the cats on the couch.

"We'll see. Now, which pet would you like?" He smiled again.

"Um…I'd really like the goat….cat…what's it called?"

"It's a Totetsu, and I'm afraid he is not for sale." Speak of the devil; the totetsu walked into the room and sat down next to the couch.

'_If you let her buy me, can I eat her?' _

"No, T-chan!" Count D hushed the little goat-thing.

"Well…" I fished some money out of my pockets. "I have $23 dollars… And I swear I'd take really good care of him….Maybe I could just borrow him? Please? I've never seen anything like a totetsu…But I mean, it's okay if you say no….And I'm pretty good with animals…I think…" I knew it probably wouldn't work, but I was desperate. It would be awesome to have a pet like that, even for just a day!

"Very well." Count D said. I noticed a strange smell filling the room. It was sweet, kind of like perfume, but less fake-smelling. "Although this may change your mind."

I blinked, and suddenly all the animals were gone. In their places were people- oddly dressed, and some with animal parts- gorgeous people. Where the totetsu sat was a boy a year or two older than me, with wild red hair, goat horns, and yellow eyes. He had an animal tooth necklace and was wearing a gold and white vest with gold pants. He had several gold bracelets on his arms.

"This…" I could tell that the people expected me to yell or something. "This is so _cool!" _

"Really?" Count D looked surprised.

"Yeah! But.. they're still pets, right? 'Cuz selling them as slaves would be…bad…"

"Of course. And I do not sell them to any customer without their consent." He confirmed my hopes.

I walked up to the totetsu, glaring.

"You tried to eat me!"

"Who says I won't try again?" He grinned evilly. "I'm still hungry, you know."

"If you bite me, I swear I'll kick you into next week!" I warned him. I wasn't going to let myself get eaten by a weird goat-boy-thing!

"Not if you're already ripped to pieces." He said, looking at me like my cat looked at the fridge. So I went by my natural instinct and slapped him.

"Oh dear," Count D said quietly. "It seems T-Chan has met his match."


	2. Chapter 2

The totetsu looked shocked. "You-That's it! I'm eating her!" He was about to rip my head off or something, but I grabbed his arm and twisted it around, then knocked him down.

"Ow…."

"Uh..never mind about borrowing him," I said regretfully. "I don't think it would be a good idea…"

"Probably," The Count agreed. "But would you like to join me for tea?"

"Sure!" I exclaimed. "Just let me ask my mom.. She'll probably be okay with me being in here while she reads." I ran out the door and into the library.

~~~~~~~~~~Third Person~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'_Why're you doing this?' _ One of the cats asked. _'Normally you would've shooed the child away by now..'_ Count D sighed.

"This one is different..She does not understand the shallow lives of humans, and she actually respects other animals…" He started making tea. "Not to say that she is perfect."

''Respect_' my a**..' _ T-chan grumbled, rubbing his face. _'That girl can slap hard…' _

'_Well you _were _about to eat her,' _Pon-chan pointed out, leaning on the arm of the couch.

'_Why didn't she freak out when she saw us?' _ Another of the pets asked.

"She reads manga," Count D answered, glancing at the cover of the book she had left, which had a boy with cat ears on it. "Katherine brought one in here...Actually, I'm surprised that she didn't run up and hug someone." Some of the animals shuddered at that thought, including T-chan.

"I'm baaack!" Kat skipped over to them. She looked around with a puzzled expression. "They look like animals again…Is that supposed to happen?"

"It's not surprising," The Count poured some tea. She sat down in a chair across from him, looking at the tea awkwardly.

"What's the matter?" D asked.

"Well..I've never really had tea before… "She admitted, picking up the cup.

"Then you _must _try it!" He exclaimed, looking shocked. Kat sipped the tea nervously, looking confused.

"Is is supposed to be this…sweet?" She asked, hoping that he wouldn't be offended.

"I like it sweet…"

"Cool."

* * *

"Is that pet store any good?" My mom asked. We were sitting in the car; I was drinking a milkshake and flipping through some manga.

"Yeah!" I grinned. "It's great!" It was more than great…more like the super-awesome-oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-this-is-actually-happening-to-me kind of great! "It's owned by this cool guy named Count D…and…"

"Mmhm?"

"He offered me a job!"

"But, honey, you can't work until you're 14," My mom pointed out.

"Well not a _job _job, just helping him out with the store and stuff after school."

"But how would you get there? I'll be student teaching…" My mom was student teaching, trying to become a teacher.

"I could walk from school? It's across the road from the library.. And I could even stop at Skye's house for a snack or something." I had no intention of going there for a snack; the Count had tons of delicious sugary and chocolaty things I had never eaten before.

"Hm…I suppose you could. But be careful, and make sure you have a cell phone with you. I could pick you up around five thirty or six?"

"Great!" I pulled my mom's cellphone out of her purse. "I'll call and tell him!" I dug the sticky note with the shop's phone number on it out of my pocket and dialed the number.

"Hello? This is Count D's pet shop, where we sell dreams and-"

"Hi! It's Kat!"

"Oh, Katherine. What did your mother say?"

"She said yes! And that she'll pick me up around six."

"Wonderful. Will you be starting tomorrow?" He asked. I covered up the mouthpiece and asked my mom.

"Tomorrow'll be fine," She replied. I told Count D that, then asked what I should bring.

"Oh, you don't have to- What?" I could hear a voice in the background say '_Philippe says to make sure she brings a swimsuit!' _"You may need a swimsuit," He added. Then we said goodbye and hung up. I was hyper all day, and I could barely sleep that night. I could tell that something great was about to happen

* * *

Sorry this chapter's so short… D: Usually my chapters are 1,000-2,000 pages… If you'd like to have a pet/customer or someone in the series, please tell me! :3 I could use some background characters lol.


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